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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Matsutake Miso Soup

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Matsutake mushroom miso soup recipe I can still taste the first bowl of miso soup I ever had. It was at a higher-ish end Tepanyaki restaurant chain called Benihana, one of those places where they have a cook make the food in front of you on a grill set in the table-it’s a great place to bring dates.

Before all the hoopla and pageantry and juggling of shrimp tales could begin, the waitress brought you out a soup or salad. I picked the soup. In hindsight, their’s was nothing really special, some fried onions, little pieces of tofu, and a couple sliced scallions. The broth was what it was all about. It was so good, rich and light at the same time, with just the perfect amount of savory kick from the miso.

This miso soup is about a nice broth flavored with miso, of course, but moreso it’s all about having another useful, simple matsutake recipe. Unlike the vast majority of wild mushrooms, matsutake don’t like cream, cheese or butter at all, (although fat in the flavor of oil is ok) so the more clean, simple (read as Japanese) recipes you have for them, the better.

I’ve eaten mushrooms in miso soup plenty of times, but usually they’re small soup mushrooms like Flammelina velutipes (enoki), or Hypsizygus tessellatus (buna shimeji), never something as special as a matsie, and I wouldn’t expect to.

Matsutake mushrooms from Minnesota (6)

Small buttons will be the best for this, and have the strongest flavor.

It’s not just as simple as throwing matsutake in some dashi and letting them ride though, it’s all about making sure you can capture the matsutake aroma. Cooked and simmered in the broth like the other mushrooms you might use, the matsutake could be overtaken by the miso flavor, and if I can’t taste matsutake in my matsutake miso soup, I wasn’t going to be happy.

Am I splitting hairs here? Some people might say so, but those people didn’t drive six hours round trip to pick their matsutake. To make sure I taste matsutake, (their aroma is most potent raw) I add them to the soup add the last minute, and I slice them thicker than other mushrooms that go into soup so they keep a crunch that floods your sinuses with matsutake flavor as you chew.

Mitsuba

As I was gathering things to put together the miso soup, I had a revelation. I’d just learned about Cryptataenia canadensis, or Mitsuba, as it’s known in Japan.

It’s a plant in the parsley family (the other name is Japanese parsley), and it’s often used in miso soup, too, so I knew it would be a great in the soup. I spend a lot of time on a farm in Wisconsin that’s completely covered in the stuff, so all I had to do was take a walk into the sugar bush with the dog and grab some.

You might be able to get some at your local asian market, or just substitute some other tender greens, cilantro, parsley, or just skip it.  I was just happy I’d thought of a great way to have matsutake and mitsuba together, next time, I’m going to have to grill the mushrooms and toss them with mistsuba like a warm salad. Yum.

This is a basic scratch miso soup, but you could sure use a packet from an Asian market in a pinch, or use your favorite dashi recipe. I added some dried matsutake to my dashi, but it’s optional, most of the matsie flavor is going to come from the shaved mushrooms here.

Matsutake mushroom miso soup in a bowl

Miso Soup with Matsutake Mushrooms Recipe
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Matsutake Miso Soup

Matsutake miso soup. The dashi broth will make 8 cups (more than you need), and the finished soup will serve 4.
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: Matsutake, Miso soup

Ingredients

  • 6 cups dashi
  • 2 cup diced wild greens such as mitsuba
  • 1 cup tofu diced ¼ inch
  • 4 tablespoons red miso or to taste
  • 2 oz matsutake 4-6 small mushrooms, thickly shaved
  • Dashi
  • 6.5 cups water
  • Kombu: 1/2 oz 15 grams or one 4 x 4 inch piece
  • Bonito flakes 2 cups, or 40 grams
  • A good handful of dried matsutake optional

Instructions

For the dashi

  • Soak kombu for 3 minutes in the 6 cups of water. heat the water with kombu to nearly boiling, but do not boil. Remove and discard kombu. Add bonito flakes, dried matsutake, and turn off heat, allow to infuse for 20 minutes.
  • Strain, cool and reserve. Discard bonito or save to make furikake.

For the soup

  • Heat the dashi and miso until simmering.
  • Add the greens and tofu and heat through.
  • Double check the seasoning and adjust as needed, then add the matsutake, stir to heat through but don’t try to cook them, turn off the heat and serve.

More

Mitsuba 

Guide to Matsutake (Pine Mushrooms)

 

Matsutake mushrooms from Minnesota

Related

Previous Post: « Rabbit Chasseur with Wild Mushrooms
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jane

    November 29, 2021 at 1:46 pm

    Great recipes thank you! I believe that under the ingredient list for the dashi, it should read 9 cups water.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      November 30, 2021 at 9:29 am

      I adjusted that for Clarity, thanks Jane.

      Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
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Alan Bergo
Sometimes I forget we have good traditions in Amer Sometimes I forget we have good traditions in America too. Case in point: bourbon. 

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The rye finished in rum barrels smells like pure maple syrup 🤤. @angelsenvy

#bourbon #whiskeyrow #angelsenvy #whiteoak
Summer veg PSA: One of the edible plant parts I co Summer veg PSA: One of the edible plant parts I cover in my book you might not know are squash and pumpkin shoots. 

Tender and delicious, these are eaten around the world. The US is still coming around, but I see them occasionally at farmers markets. 

I like to give them a dip in boiling water to wilt them quick, then toss them with some fat or stir-fry them quick. The little curly-cues make them look like fairy tale veggies to me. 

#squashshoots #cucurbitaceae #eatmoreplants #kehoecarboncookware
Shaved cattail rhizomes with smoked trout, chickwe Shaved cattail rhizomes with smoked trout, chickweed, lemon, hickory nut oil and tarragon from the @wild.fed shoot. 

I spent a couple days trying to cook the rhizomes, and it works, but raw is my favorite prep. 

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#cattails #foraging #chickweed #runnerbeans #saladsofinstagram
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They’re going into gumbo with porcini, sausage and milkweed pods today. 

#crayfish #ninjareflexes #waxonwaxoff #normalthings #onset🎥🎬
Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizo Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizomes and blueberries for this weeks shoot with @wildfed 

Been a few years since I worked with these. Thankfully Sam Thayer dropped a couple off for me to work with. They’re tender, crisp and delicious. 

Sam mentioned their mild flavor and texture could be because they don’t have to worry about predators eating them, since they grow in the muck of cattail marshes. 

I think they could use a pet name. Pond tusk? Swamp spears? Help me out here. 😂

Nature makes the coolest things. 

#itcamefromthepond #cattail #rhizomes #foraging #typhalatifolia
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
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